Was just wondering about this? If you add up all the Basic, Member, Regular, and Leader users on the board you get 1236, and one of those is Discobot. There’s no way Amal could work full time with such a small customer base, so clearly there’s alot of “Us” out there somewhere.

Plus DT isn’t the only source for tech.

I doubt there’s any way to know even close to an accurate count, but what’s your take. How many of “Us” are there? Assuming that being one of “Us” requires at least an RFID device of some type, or greater (elective) upgrade to the standard issue bio matter container that life set you up with.

I would have started with

I don’t mean to rain on everybody’s parade here, but this is starting to grind my gear a bit: we really should stop calling ourselves “cyborgs”, because none of us meet the criterion - which is that the non-human bits interact with the human bits and/or vice-versa in some form or other.

Really, carrying implants under one’s skin is just like having the implant in one’s pocket, only one doesn’t need a pocket. There is exactly zero interaction between the chip and you. No cyborg there…

We’re just slightly augmented humans. An amputee wearing a prosthesis is much more of a cyborg than anyone with a subdermal implant, because there’s a functional link between the two. In my opinion, calling ourselves cyborgs is like kids with cap guns calling themselves cowboys: it’s just wishful thinking and it makes us look a bit silly and immature, or attention-grabbing.

physical abilities are extended beyond normal human limitations by mechanical elements built into the body.

The mechanical part seems to be more supportive of your argument.

Admittedly language is an ever evolving thing, I don’t think anyone thinks there a bloody terminator but the name seems to have stuck, do have a better term for people who stick microcontrollers under there skin?

Sorry yes, you’re correct. I was thinking of people wearing RFID and NFC transponders.

Magnet implant wearers do indeed interact with their implants, and get an additional sense out of them. They are cyborgs in my book.

leumas95:

the name seems to have stuck, do have a better term for people who stick microcontrollers under there skin?

I was under the impression that the newer term “grinder” - which has a different meaning of people hacking their own body outside of the medical establishment - was more appropriate. Cyborg is older, and describes a functional state of humanity that few of us have achieved.

I was under the impression that the newer term “grinder” - which has a different meaning of people hacking their own body outside of the medical establishment - was more appropriate.

I have heard that term a fair few times, I don’t really like it personally as it is such an over used word. If I told somone I am a grinder they would struggle to find out what I mean. The top definitions I found where someone who

A person or thing that grinds.

A grinder is a slang term for a person who works in the investment industry and makes only small amounts of money at a time on small investments, over and over again.

A gamer doing boring repetitive tasks

I actually failed to find a definition of it without mentioning body modification or similar terms

Anyway, the meaning of words shift over time, and that’s natural in a living language. “Hacker” for instance is one of them: it used to mean something very specific, and now it’s completely overused and carries a nefarious intention that it didn’t use to be associated with.

So I’m okay with “grinder” or “cyborg” meaning anything anybody wants. It’s just that if you think “cyborg” covers people with itty bitty subdermal transponders in their hands, the rest of the world doesn’t understand it that way and thinks you’re bragging, is my point.

Biohacking is the next phase of human evolution. Human augmentation with microchip implants is just the first step, but an important one. Upgrade yourself today with an RFID or NFC chip implant, or try the new VivoKey cryptobionic secure implant!

Much easier for normal people to understand Cyborg, than Grinder. I’d really have to explain Grinder if I claimed it. In excrutiating detail. Lay people have a greater inherent understanding of Cyborg.

Rosco:

and thinks you’re bragging

I AM bragging.
IE: “Hey baby, you ever done it with a Cyborg? You want to? ”

I had a real interesting talk with a guy once who had a powered hearing aid, with some kind of surgical install. Basically we set down and broke augmentation into levels.